Pokemon TCG Decklists and Articles

Hey Guys, Im back to “Pikk” three cards for you guys to look over and discuss. As always one will be a staple card, one will be a card I think is under-rated, and one will be a card from a new or un-released set.

I hope your Spring Battle Roads season is going well. Unfortunately I had a bad showing at the first battle roads in my area, and I wasn’t able to make it to the other ones, so its hasn’t been a great season for me. Thats alright though, there will be more tournaments in my future.

Up until this post I had been reviewing Unleashed cards for my third category. But now since the new set, Undaunted, has been announced I can go ahead and start looking at some new cards. Of course the set list hasn’t been announced and only a few cards have been confirmed, but by process of elimination I know what other cards will appear in the set. So its time to look ahead.

The Staple: Regice LA

Description- Regice’s stats are average at best. It has a decent 90 HP, a weakness to Metal, and a horrid three retreat cost. Its Poke-Power is called “Regi Move,” this Power lets you discard two cards from your hand and switch your opponents basic Pokemon out. It also has one attack called “Ice Reflect.” For WWC you can do 50 damage and paralyze the defending Pokemon if Regice was attacked last turn.

Analysis- Regice is one my favorite cards in the current format. Discarding cards from you hand doesn’t seem that important, but when you think about it, what other cards can discard cards from your hand? There is Felecities Drawings (which will be rotating out soon) and Engineers Adjustment, but those are both supporters. So Regice will let you free your hand of some unwanted cards and provide some disruption.

Regice is used mostly in Gyarados decks to discard Magikarps, and in Jumpluff decks to get rid of Mr.Mime Mt. But it can be used in other decks to make room in your hand for Claydol GE’s “Cosmic Power” or Uxie LA’s “Set Up.”

But Regice can also be a liability. It has a very high retreat cost, this can be quite the problem when most decks only run 1 Warp Point. It’s attack is situational to say the best.

But even with these problems, I still think Regice is amazing. 8.5/10

The Underdog: Magmortar Ul

Description- Magmortar is one Pokemon that currently has a lot of versions in the format. But I think one of the best ones is from the Unleashed set. It has 110 HP (decent for a stage 1), a 2 retreat cost, and a weakness to Water. It has two attacks, the first is called “Hard Crush.” To use the attack you must discard three cards from the top of your decks and then do fifty damage for each energy card you discard, it costs FCC. Its second attack is called “Mantle Bazooka,” which does 100 damage for FFCC and you must discard FF.

Analysis– Magmortar is every-ones favorite creepy fat fire clown Pokemon. It was one of the cards from the Unleashed Set that creeped by unnoticed. While everyone was talking about Crobat Prime (who nobody plays) Magmortar was dropped to “Crap Rare” status. But I think this card deserves a second look.

Its first attack is poorly named, but has a lot of potential. It does 50 damage times the amount of energy in the top 3 cards of your deck. Of course it wouldn’t be smart to just hope that you find energy at the top of your deck, so lets look at other cards that increase your chances.

The most obvious is Delcatty Pt. Its Poke-Power “Power Circulation” lets your bring two energy cards from your discard pile to the top of your deck. Another combo is Ninetails HGSS. Its Poke-Power “Roast Reveal” lets you discard a fire energy and draw three cards. If you set up Ninetails and Delcatty on the bench, you are sure to get 2 energy cards at the top of your deck each turn. Another combo is Dialga Pt #5. It has the “Reverse Time” Poke-Power which lets you bring three energy or Pokemon cards from your discard pile to the top of your deck once you lay him down.

7.5/10– I think this Magmortar/Delcatty/Ninetails deck could be a decent deck. I dont know if its any better than the Charizard deck, but its not much worse. It can use DCE but it does take 3 stage 1’s to set up, so it might be a little slow.

The Young Gun: Legend Box

Description: Legend Box is a trainer card that is expected to be released in the upcoming Undaunted set. It has a simple effect, look at the top 10 cards of your deck and if there are two halves of the same Legend card there, you can put it onto your bench and attach any energy cards that were also in the top 10 cards that you revealed.

Anlaysis– Legend Box was one of the most anticipated cards from the Unleashed set, but it never made it for that set, so it will be even more anticipated when it is released in the Undaunted set.

A lot of people say that it will change the format and make Legend cards playable. While I hope that is so, I dont know if this card is consistent enough to make it in next years format. The fact that Claydol will be gone will hurt this card because your deck won’t be as thin then as it is now. So there is less of a chance that those 2 legend cards will be there.

Using this card is a big risk, I know when people use this card they will reveal only 1 legend piece, or maybe no pieces, or maybe 2 of the same pieces. So this cards effectiveness will be determined on how fast you can thin your deck and how lucky you are.

This card can be useless if there are no good Legend cards to play. Right now the legend cards are not very flashy. A lot of them have the dreaded lightning weakness, and all of them have high energy requirements. Entei/Raikou Legend has seen a little play so far, and it will only get better once people use more Uxies. Lugia Legend could also be a good card if you are lucky enough to reveal enough energy with Legend Box. And this set will bring three new legend cards, perhaps one will be a good attacker.

6.5/10- It is hard to predict how well a new card will be, but Im looking at this card with pessimism. How good this card will be will be determined on how lucky you are, and how good the new legend cards will be. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t like my deck to be based on luck. It can be a great card if your lucky, but if not it will be best to use Bebes Search and Pokemon Communication.

Well thats all I have to say about these cards, I hope you all will leave comments and tell us how good you think the cards are. Also let me know if you have a card you would like me to “Pikk” next week.